Keep Coming Back Relapse Relapse & Recovery Standing in the Wings I came to Overeaters Anonymous to lose weight, period. I had no idea what the program was about. A friend told me she had lost weight in OA; maybe I could lose weight too. The methods I had tried over the years (little chocolate candies, pills, shots, nasty-tasting predigested protein, aerobic exercise while wrapped in cellophane, and actual physical exercise … Read More
Tools & Concepts Uncategorized My Abstinence Kits When I first came to OA forty years ago, my idea of a plan of eating was a diet. OA members suggested I have three moderate meals daily with nothing in between, and of course, avoid foods with refined sugar. I was ecstatic at my first meeting when I saw the different color coded plans lying on the table. Each … Read More
Abstinence Steps to Abstinence Abstinence is the most important thing in my life. The OA program and the spiritual Twelve Steps have been essential in getting and keeping my abstinence. I’ve been abstinent since 2015 when I came in and began working my program. My first step in becoming abstinent was to find a food plan that I could follow without too much difficulty. … Read More
Steps Traditions Accessible to All When I showed up at my first OA meeting, I did not have the desire to stop eating compulsively. I was morbidly obese and had lost and gained large amounts of weight throughout my life. My desires back then were different. I wanted to be thin. I wanted the emotional pain to stop. I wanted a reason to continue living. … Read More
Anorexia & Bulimia Diversity Seeing the Path I’ve always been an introvert; God made me that way. I can still relate to others and can even be seen to enjoy folk’s company; however, this is only a mask I wear to protect my real self from intrusion into my preferred solitude. I know when this mask is in place, and it feels false and contrived to me, … Read More
Anorexia & Bulimia Diversity Made Possible In times of fear and doubt, I can remember to ground myself in the fact of my abstinence. It’s simple: Before OA and the aid of a Power greater than myself, I could not live without compulsive overeating, exercise bulimia, and body image obsession. Now, one day at a time, I can. Starting in eighth grade, my eating disorder took … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Feeling, Not Eating Before OA, I was an emotional eater. I used to eat every time I was anxious, sad, or afraid. At times, when I was bingeing, I tried to stop—but I couldn’t. I had to finish the whole pack of whatever I was eating, as if I was a prisoner of the food. I tried many diets, but none worked. Every … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery All the Way Today, I am celebrating thirty years of abstinence. It took me four years to get, and I truly appreciate the miracle of still having it so many years later. When I came to OA in 1985, I was 21 years old, and I had no idea what OA was going to do for me. Like many people, I wanted to lose … Read More
Steps Digging Differently As part of my daily program routine, I have been reading the Big Book and then writing on certain passages. On page 325 of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, it states, “You hit bottom when you stop digging.” I can thankfully say that I’m not still digging in the way that I used to. I had many years of digging and … Read More
Recovery Fad Free In the July 2019 issue, I read an OA slogan that was new to me “Eat light and feel right; Eat right and feel light!” Really?! Do we need a slogan about food in OA? Whatever happened to the basic idea that “we are not a ‘diet club?’” (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, p. 2). What impression will this new slogan … Read More